


Child of the Ocean

by Sarah_von_Krolock



Category: Aquaman (2018)
Genre: F/M, I just needed to write something because I´m a helpless bitch
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-01
Updated: 2019-03-04
Packaged: 2019-10-20 15:47:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 21,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17625245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sarah_von_Krolock/pseuds/Sarah_von_Krolock
Summary: “They said they found the Kingdom of the Deserters. Or what´s left of it. I want to see it. I need to see it.” He loosens his hands behind his back, putting the fingers of the right one against the glass, drawing invisible lines. “Not always sending out the archaeologists but doing so myself. Searching through the ruins of what once had been Atlantis… our past… our history… Ruins that are not covered in seagrass and anemones but with carvings still readable. That would be marvellous.”





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [annea](https://archiveofourown.org/users/annea/gifts).



He needed to see, he needed to know. Since Arthur told him that he and Mera had found the Kingdom of the Deserters, or what was left of it, King Atlans weaponry, the birthplace of the legendary trident, he knew he needs to see it with his own eyes.  
-  
"What did she call it? Dessert?"  
"Deserters!"  
"Yeah, whatever, those who dried out like a fish on land, literally," laughs the dark haired one.  
-  
He was close to tearing out his own hair.  
No matter if he wields Atlans trident – this (!) is not the behavior of a king! Has Vulko actually taught him anything? Mera? Mother? If he would have called the legendary kingdom after a sweet little extra one gets during dinner as a boy… he could have seen the traces of disrespect and mistake even now on his skin.  
But ever since the thought won´t leave him. He needs to see that place with his own eyes. The remaining of what Atlantis once was, ruins that are not covered with corals and seaweed or destroyed by the saltiness of the sea.  
He should guide his brother, they say. He should teach him to become a good king. The way of politics and diplomacy. Contracts and treaties. Becoming his advisor. Redeem himself with it. Who could do it better than he?   
Yes. Who could do it better than he himself… He knows it is not the intention of his mother, he knows, but still… it sounds and feels as if they want to keep him on the short leash, degrading him, mocking him, a very unique punishment. He was king, the one king that almost united all kingdoms, he was the Oceanmaster! – Alright, he admits, the last part went a little bit over his head.  
But what else is there left for him to do? He knows nothing else except preparing to become a king and to be a king. He can´t turn his back on throne and crown and start designing art… He never learned anything else. This was the only purpose of his life.  
The only one he thought to ever pass down his knowledge on how to be a good king might have been in some future a son on his own. Now all is shattered and gone. There is never going to be a marriage between himself and Mera, they won´t unite the Kingdoms of Atlantis and Xebel, there won´t be children. Probably the best for both of them, spending their lives without a loveless marriage. Sparing her his mother's fate. He remembers the look on the face of his mother too well, the look in her eyes. Happiness was never one of the things he saw there. And seeing the same look on Mera for the rest of his life, with every touch of his, every kiss… It would have been awkward anyway. He saw in her a childhood friend, still. Not the possible mother of his future children.   
And now he should play advisor and seeing every day that everything that was once his is now his brothers? The title, Crown, Throne, Kingdom, Fiancée… Every single bit… being reminded every day of the betrayal of all who surrounded him? It is simply that, betrayal, high treason. No. He can´t do that. Not now. Not even out of love for his mother. There is too much pride left within him. Too much from his father, that has shaped him and hasn´t been erased by his mother yet. Too much conflict within him. For two decades he was told day in and out that his mother was a treacherous snake, that she stained the bloodline and betrayed the king with having an affair with a surface dweller and above all a halfbreed bastard. That all surface dwellers are poisonous and evil, selfish, ignorant and arrogant.   
At least now he knows where Vulko had been when he wasn´t there to remind the King of the Prince' lessons only to prevent that the King might lash out his anger on the young Prince because he looks too much like his treacherous mother. Betrayed already back then. Has anyone, who was ever close to him, even for once been loyal to him?   
With the sound of the door opening, he rises from the edge of the bed, turning towards the window and clasping his hands behind his back.   
"How are you today, my dear?"  
He can see her reflection in the window. He still has an excellent view of Atlantis from his room. The fluorescent lights, the calming and slowly floating jellyfishes and other creatures of the sea, the marvelous architecture of the city. A curfew. They put him under a curfew. He was once King of Atlantis, the people loved him, he was a good king to them, he is pureblooded. There would have been a riot if a halfbreed takes now the thrown and throwing their former king into a prison.   
"Why do you keep coming down here. I´m put under a curfew, robbed of the throne and crown, my trident is broken, no army to fight with… I can´t do any harm, no need to worry. Go up… live your life. The one that makes you happy."  
"You are part of that."  
"Am I? Have you ever been happy here? If they wouldn´t have found you back then, I wouldn´t be standing here right now. You would have had your happy little surface dwellers life."  
"You were always my only joy here."  
"Stop lying to me, mother." He turns his gaze from her reflection. "How could I have been? Haven`t I always reminded you, with every look onto me, of the man who forced himself upon you? Haven´t you then thought on the man and the son that is waiting up there for you? Those you love? Those you wanted?"  
"Whatever your father did is not your fault. You are not to be blamed for his actions. I loved you from the first moment I knew you were there. You are my son. Oh, I would have loved so much to introduce you to each other… To simply take you with me. Away from here. Away from him."  
"He always said I am looking just like you… ‘You have your mothers' eyes'. ‘You have your mothers' hair'. ‘You are weak-willed just like her'. ‘You are too soft – just like her'."  
"Oh, Orm… I am so sorry… I am so very sorry…"  
"But the past isn´t the reason why you´re here now, right?" He doesn´t want to hear it. No matter what she says, he will never be the golden child, the child of love. If his father wouldn´t have searched all the seas and lands for her, he would be non-existent. Maybe it would have been better for all parties, he thinks bitter. And still, she was his whole world as a child. He strived for nothing more but her laugh, her smile, her hugs, and kisses. Were these real or was he just a duty she fulfilled perfectly?   
"We all want to know if you have decided yet. No one would be better for the task than you. It would mean a lot to your brother if you would introduce him to the duties and tasks that lie ahead of him."  
"Has Vulko no time for the great king? Was he not always the more important duty?"  
"Orm… only you can tell of the pressure with sitting on the throne. Only you can tell of the difficulties to keep the peace between so many different species, to protect so many different beings at once. To leave your personal happiness behind for the sake of everyone else."  
"A good king is always the first servant of his people…"  
"And you did it so marvelous and well, I am so proud of you."  
"You think he´s ready to give up his little carefree life and devoting every minute he´s awake to Atlantis and its people?"  
He looks at her reflection again, just looking at him.   
"When was the last time you have been truly happy, my dear?"  
"It´s not important."  
"Would you have married Mera really only out of duty?"  
"The sake of Atlantis is the most important and honorable duty."  
He sees the smile in the glass. The same sad smile she always wore back then, and he turns his gaze away.  
"Oh Orm… what has he turned you into…"  
"You came here for an answer and the answer is no. I won´t do it. I won´t stand at his side and let myself being mocked. The former king of Atlantis degraded to a simple advisor, shown to everyone like a curiosity… No. Ask Vulko. He saw in him already now such a good king, twice as good as I could have ever been… He would be for sure delighted. I want to go up. To the surface." He saw her face lighting up.   
"You really want to?"  
"They said they found the Kingdom of the Deserters. Or what´s left of it. I want to see it. I need to see it." He loosens his hands behind his back, putting the fingers of the right one against the glass, drawing invisible lines. "Not always sending out the archaeologists but doing so myself. Searching through the ruins of what once had been Atlantis… our past… our history… Ruins that are not covered in seagrass and anemones but with carvings still readable. That would be marvelous." He looks up with a hand gently grasping his shoulder, seeing his mothers face now closer. She´s smiling at him. A real smile.


	2. Chapter 2

He should and needs to get used to the surface at first, they say. The pressure, the temperature, the air, the light… Surface dwellers construct of society, language, customs… He had been so rarely on the surface in the past, that he is not used at all to the surface – no matter how superior his genes are as a pureblood Atlantean. If he would have known that his wish to visit the Kingdom of the Deserters would have meant that getting used to the surface meant to wear those ridiculous surface clothes and that his mother would take him to her most beloved lighthouse, he would have slapped himself for having such a stupid idea. Actually, he did slam his forehead once against the door as he was told this is the deal. It sounded like a death sentence to him. He doesn't want to go to that place. He doesn´t want to see it. He doesn´t want to meet… that man. Not now.  
Well, right now he sits in that lighthouse on a sofa and a steaming cup of tea in front of him while wearing said ridiculous surface clothes. Upright with his hands on his knees and not daring to move a single inch. Just like he does for the past three days since he came up here with his mother.  
Every fiber of him screams of how uncomfortable he is. Everything here… is so… soft and warm… and awkward. Even the handshake with "Just Tom" Mister Curry was soft and warm. And just as awkward.   
Since he knows that there would be no way to avoid this meeting, he thought about what to say and how to act. In fact, a fact he can´t deny, he is the other one. He is the other child. He is the bastard from another one. Not Arthur. Though he can´t explain himself how and why… He looks old, he is smaller than she is. Her physique and strength for sure are way superior to his. But every look of his mother at him, every tiny gesture speaks of love. Well, he imagines that this is how love might look like. The kind one can read in poems and novels.   
He is the failure. He is the one that shouldn´t have been. If luck and destiny would have been kind to his mother, he wouldn´t be there. He can´t even look him into the eyes. He was never the one to back down, he was taught to never back down but right now it was his most desired wish. Backing down and avoiding this man at all costs. Petty, he knows. But he can´t help himself right now. The knot in his stomach just grows with every minute he spends in their presence, seeing the happiness and love they radiate. And he realizes a few things.   
That she indeed is happy with her surface life. With a surface dweller. And that she never smiled like this in Atlantis. Not even to him. She never smiled like this at him. He had always been taught that emotions are making one just weak, that he can´t allow himself to show emotions of any kind, one enemy and opponents are just waiting to see a weak spot within him. An excellent tactician never shows emotion, is always cool-headed. And yet he feels a sting in his chest. He inhales deeply as he feels tears building up, clenching his hands to fists and turning his gaze towards one of the windows, to the view onto the sea.   
"Orm?"  
He takes another deep breath, unclenching his hands right away and turning his gaze at his mother. Opening his mouth, he wants to say it. ‘Mother'. But in the presence of the other man he stops before doing so. "Yes?"  
"Are you alright, my dear?"  
"Of course." My dear… she always calls him ‘My dear'. Not for once since he´s here he heard her calling him ‘My son'. The only time had been as she introduced them to each other. "I am not troubled. Don´t worry." He forces himself to a smile. A smile he smiled so often in the past years. The smile of a diplomat, a politician, the smile of a king that hides all real emotions. A smile he smiled for the last three days. "I just need to get used to this day and night rhythm. That's all."  
"If anything is bothering you, you can tell me… us."  
"Nothing is bothering me, mo… nothing. Be assured of that."  
"I know you are impatient to see the ruins by yourself but there is still so much you need to…"  
"I am not impatient." He knows it is rude to cut her off. "I am sorry." Once more he casts his eyes down. Something he only did in front of his father…  
"Oh, I forgot… I promised Angus to help him with his car. I´ll be back as soon as I can, promise."  
He keeps his gaze down as ‘Just Tom'-Mister Curry pats the knee of his mother, a kiss on the cheek, that smile…  
"I´ll grab us dinner on my way back, so don´t bother to cook something."  
She never laughed like this in Atlantis…  
"I won´t touch the oven, I promise."  
"See ya later, boy."  
Boy… "Good day, Mister Curry." He was still raised to be polite.  
With the door shut, she turns at him. "The first time I tried to cook I was setting the kitchen on fire," she smiles at him, chuckling shortly at the memory. "I had to promise to not ever touch the oven again." She takes a deep breath, rising and going over to sit down next to him. "Something is troubling you."  
"Don´t try to act as if the past twenty years haven´t existed because they did, mother."  
Already with day one she was aware that he only calls her ‘mother' when Tom isn´t around.  
"I lived thirty years believing I was the true, golden, only legitimate child only to realize that the bastard was me the whole time."  
"This is not true and you…"  
"It´s a simple fact, mother, no one can deny it."  
"I know, Orm, my dear, that there is a lot for you to cope with. So much has happened in such a short amount of time."  
"Like my mother rose from the dead? Like my mother just standing by and watching as I am imprisoned? Like everyone I once trusted betrayed me? Like all I lived for was for nothing? Like everybody supported my plan concerning the surface dwellers and is acting now as if I am a maniac and evil?"  
"You are not evil, my dear, only…"  
"Are you even aware of it?"  
"Orm, what…"  
"How often you call Arthur ‘my son' and how you always just call me ‘ my dear'?"  
The glance and expression he gives her are blank, almost dead and it stings in her chest.  
"I was devasted. I thought I could never again be happy for one moment in life as father told me that you're truly dead. Eaten up by the Trench. Watching you vanishing into the dark void, hearing their shrieks… Because you betrayed him, me, all of Atlantis. Because you were disloyal. Because you had a halfbreed bastard son on the surface. I didn´t want to believe him. I thought somehow you might have survived. Somehow… you are alive, somewhere. I thought you´re hiding from him and eventually would come back to get me. Showing me the world, you were always talking about with those bright sparks in your eyes and such a happy smile. A smile I never got when you were looking at me. But you never came and so I believed his words. His lies and tales about you. One of them was that you never loved me. That I was just a duty for you. That you only loved that halfbreed on the surface. Your firstborn. And if you could have you would have returned to the surface, leaving me behind. Forgetting about me."  
"I would have never left you behind. I never forgot about you. I loved you from the very first moment."  
"I don´t know… The smile you wear on your face here… I never saw such on you in Atlantis. Never for me… In every lie is a little truce they say, right?" He sighs and rises. "I am tired. If you´ll excuse me? There will be no reason to call for me for dinner." He nods at her, hands clasped behind his back and turning away from her, going upstairs to the guestroom he stays in.   
Only three weeks and he grew tired of these conversations. He grew tired of everyone and everything. His head starts to ache. It feels different up here than it does deep down below the surface. He is tired of her exclamations of love for him. He is tired of hearing that she would love them both equally. He is tired from hearing that his father only told lies, that he corrupted him, misleading him. He taught him how to fight. How to survive. How to rule. Not all he did could have been wrong and bad, right? He was still his father… He made sure he gets the best education possible. The best training. He wouldn´t have become the king he was without his fathers' severed hand.   
Closing the door behind him he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. It still feels awkward to breathe… just air. He remembers the feeling of almost suffocating as Mera broke off the fair fight between him and Arthur, using her powers to make him powerless for a moment, to make him feel like a fish on dry land. Remembers the burning in his lungs. Of course, he can breathe air just like water. The change was only too sudden. He was unprepared. And even now, after three days, it still feels awkward. He tried to breathe water, it was an experiment, on his first day here. Holding his head underwater in the tub but regretted it immediately. It was disgusting and nasty. The water was not fresh, it was not moving. It was stealth and tasted and felt like having a long way through rusty tubes until it comes out of the tap. It tasted dead.   
"Look what the cat dragged in."  
Atlanna sits at the kitchen table, her mind busy with thinking about Orm. All the things Orvax has done to turn her son into the man he is today. What Atlantis did to him. Vulko had confirmed that Orvax did indeed unleashed his anger at him, punished him for having too much resemblance with her. Told her of all the gruesome things he told about her. It will take a lot of time to erase all these years of lies within him. Her heart aches with thinking about her younger son.   
Hearing the opening and closing, the footsteps and voice she looks up, rising from her seat… and rushes around the table to pull Arthur in a tight hug while his father puts a bag onto the table, getting rid of his jacket. She knows he never had to help anyone with their car. It was just an excuse to leave them alone and not making it too obvious.   
"What are you doing here? How is Mera? How do you get along with your duties?"  
"Just checking up, fine and alright so far," he grins. "Just like yesterday, and the day before and the day before…"  
"Sit, sit down. I´ll make you a tea," she smiles, rushes to the counter and filling the kettle with water. She feels Tom stopping next to her, a hand resting on her waist.   
"Should we…" He simply nods up to the ceiling.  
A short glance at him, a small smile and a shaking of her head. "He is tired," she whispers and can´t push the sadness out of her voice. She is pulled closer, a kiss onto her temple…  
"Should I get him down?"  
She turns around, putting a bowl of sugar, a glass of honey and a cup in front of her eldest son, shaking her head. "Let him rest, he is tired."   
"For the past three days, you excuse him for being tired."  
"It´s all just very exhausting for him. He has been so rarely up here in the past… I remember how very exhausting the first days had been for me."  
"Son… it had been what? A week? Less than a week and yours and your brother's life turned upside down. Completely," Tom Curry starts while putting plates onto the table at the same time. "Some cope better with his," he gestures at Arthur. "Some just need time. And for all that has happened, three weeks maybe not enough. He´s up here, right? By all you´ve told me, I guess that's already a big step. Three weeks ago, he wanted to kill all of us and now he came out of his free will up here without the intention to kill everyone."  
Arthur shrugs his shoulders and nods. Yeah. It sounds indeed like progress for his brother. "Mom? You´re alright?" He´s aware that she suddenly freezes in her movements with a sadness in her eyes he can´t describe.   
"He is so lonely," she whispers. "So very lonely… The loneliest man on land and sea… and I fear that I won´t be able to help him…All those years where I should have been there protecting him, loving him… No matter how often I say that you two are my sons, that I love you both equally, I don´t favor any one of you, he doesn´t believe me." She needs to sit down.   
"Mom, he´s a grown man."  
"Oh Arthur," she smiles. "You don´t know how very lucky you are to have a father who loves you unconditionally." She reaches over the table, taking his hand into hers. "But King Orvax was a cruel, terrible man and everything else than a loving father. Orm was seven when Orvax found out about you two. When he wanted to sacrifice me to the Trench. He made him watch as they dragged me away. He took him with him to the edges of the Kingdom and made him watch as they pushed me into the never-ending darkness. I still remember hearing his cries. I would wonder when he hasn´t had nightmares of hearing the Trench' shrill shrieks… Vulko told me. He told me that Orvax punished him for looking too much like me. Orvax' hate for the surface and its people exceeded Orms by miles."  
Mera never told him. Vulko never told him. And his mother only did so now. Orm… he hasn´t spoken to him since their fight. He promised him that they can talk when he wants to and until then he will give him the time and won´t push anything. Just as his father said. Some probably need a bit more time.   
"Some shared Vulkos opinion, that you are the true heir of the throne. But for many Atlanteans, Orm was the rightful heir. He was pureblooded. He was raised to be King. It was his only purpose. Orvax made sure that there won´t be any doubts. It was the only thing he had for his whole life so far. Becoming King and being King."  
How awful the childhood of his brother sounds… It doesn´t excuse his actions but it makes him understand why and how he did what he did. He told himself how much he blamed him for their mother's death. Hell, he blamed himself for that. But having someone around you who feeds you with such thought's day in and out for years and years…  
Are they even aware of the fact that he can hear them? He wanted to go down as he heard the door. As he heard Mister Curry returning. Wanted to show and proof his mother what for a good son he is. Knows that it would make her happy when they would all sit together at one table. Thinking it may be the only way that he will ever be able to elicit this certain smile of happiness from her. But then he heard them talking. Even on top of the stairs, he can hear them. His hearing and sight are still advanced, not only by his genes but also through living below the surface. Even back in the guestroom with the door closed he hears their voices… pitying him… her sad voice… hearing the suppressed tears in her voice. Because of him. He stands a few more minutes by the door before he sighs. How very happy he is that she is alive and not eaten up by the Trench. But he can obviously only cause her tears. Something he never wanted to.


	3. Chapter 3

It is true. They didn´t lie about that. It is really true.  
He pulls down the shawl from mouth and nose. Even for the surface, the air is dry and dusty in these underground ruins. It´s cold, way colder than onto the surface, a relief for him, with the hot sand and the burning sun. Unbearably hot. His body is made to resist extreme temperatures but that doesn´t mean that he likes these. But even down here the air is dry and dusty. He feels it in his lungs, on his skin, in his mouth. The entrance had been exactly at the coordinates that were saved from Meras and Arthurs adventurous trip in hope to find Atlans trident there. But they forgot to mention that when stepped onto the exact spot the coordinates told him to, that his feet would step into nothing. He admits, his heart almost jumped out of his chest as he was touching nothing for a moment, falling and then the hell of a slide while he prayed to all Gods, he would make it out alive. Was this their revenge? Did they at last really try to kill him? Luckily no one heard and saw him screaming in terror or throwing up afterward or getting up with buckling knees and shaking legs… The last time he felt like this was after his father pushed him into the arena to combat his best gladiators, as he had to prove to be a skilled warrior, to be worthy of being Orvax` heir and the crown and throne of Atlantis. He was seventeen.   
Arthurs contacts made it possible for him to travel there without any proof of an ID with their legal ways of traveling. Pretty fast he saw that the surface dwellers security systems concerning travels are one big error and failure. Why do they keep sticking to it when it is so easy to fake their way of identity? And why do they call a desert `desert´? The Kingdom of the Deserters is located what now is a giant desert and they call this place `Sahara Desert´. He looked it up. Sahara just means desert. They call it `desert desert`. Smart surface dwellers. Really smart. To be honest, he indeed asked the technological device he got from his brother (a `tablet´, so he can `google´) why these people up here are so stupid. He didn´t get a satisfying answer.  
At least they finally let him go. They finally let him go to see the ruins he is so eager to see. Being alone and having no one around felt like a relief. At the same time, he feels bad that he feels so relieved that his mother is not around. He wished to have her back for such a long time. And now that she is there her presence, her affections, are too much for him. He must be the most terrible son on land and sea. Maybe she is better off with Arthur alone, the golden child. Maybe it´s better when he never returns. An ungrateful son is the last thing she needs, after all, that happened.   
He must have taken a different turn on his way down. They said they would have landed in Atlans weaponry. Saw the broken plate where the famous legendary trident had been cast in his form. He sees none of it here. No weapons, no plates with which one can melt tridents, no mechanisms to heat metals. No statue of Atlan. Only columns, an archway. Carefully he takes a few steps further. Ahead he sees the remaining of what could have been a fountain once. He has an inkling that this might have been a boulevard back then. At one column he goes down onto his knees, wiping the sand off the engravings with his bare hand. He tries to read but fails. There is only one symbol he can identify and even that carries a heavy dialect. It is old Atlantean. So old that he never saw that before until now. He doesn´t hesitate and takes out a notebook and a pen from his bag to scribble the symbols down. Without royal duties anymore he has a lot of time now. Trying to work the ancient form of their mother tongue out might be at least a useful way to spend his time. Who knows what for knowledge this contains? This culture had been so advanced for their time, way more advanced than Atlantis is now in current times. All the knowledge that had been lost for so many centuries…   
"Gotchya."  
He freezes. How, by Atlans trident, had it been possible for anyone to sneak up on him? He should have heard steps, a breathing, the small rustling of sand, the little clanking sound of tiny stones kicked around, scratching under shoes…  
"You won´t get away this time. Hands where I can see them and slowly get up. Don´t even think of trying a funny move."  
This time? He has no idea what she, it is a female voice that speaks to him, is talking about. There is no doubt that the voice sounds female. But he for sure never had been ever here before. Still, he is doing as he was told to. He is unarmed and one of his first lessons had been to never underestimate your enemy or your opponent. And mostly: Never underestimate a woman. All congratulated him to the engagement with Mera for her beauty. What for a beauty he is going to marry. What for a beautiful Queen Atlantis will have. The beautiful heirs they´ll have. What for a sight she was. But oh, her powers. Those would have been truly an addition to the bloodline. Her hydrokinesis powers, that already were showing while still being a child, had been the reason for his father to deal with King Nereus in the matter of engagement between their children.  
With his hands held up, palms outside to show that he is no threat, not carrying any weapon, he slowly gets onto his feet. He is sure that something is pointing at his neck.  
"And now turn around, slowly."  
He does so too and is not the only one who is shortly surprised. He because he didn´t expect to face woman for whom he needs to look down, soft features in the face and green eyes, aiming right now a spear at his throat, and she…  
"You´re not one of them…"  
"Them?" The tactician in him watches her closely. The color of her hair, which she wears in a tight ponytail, (a wrong decision in his eyes. A ponytail or open hair can be easily grabbed during a fight.) reminds him of the sunrise he witnesses in the guestroom of the lighthouse. A color he can´t really describe, he hasn`t had seen so far below the surface. Green eyes are on high alert and not letting him out of sight. Awake and intelligent. Her features seem to be soft but the spear in her hands she is aiming at his throat says something different. Her stance tells him that she is ready to defend and attack any time, expecting him to attack her. Not letting herself be deceived that he holds no weapon. Just like she, he wears light fabrics and colors. Obviously, the only way to make the heat here bearable.   
Shortly she had lowered her spear in surprise. He doesn´t look in any way like the two who broke into these ruins' weeks ago. Neither is he bulky nor redhaired. The contrary. Lean, tall and those eyes… blue like the sea. Bluer than the skies. He shows no weapons but she´s not so sure concerning his eyes… Those blue eyes shortly caught her breath. But she raises her spear again. "Who are you and why are you here?" For being a simple grave robber or such wannabe Indiana Jones` his hands are too fine, he´s too… clean.  
He risks moving the shawl from his head, stroking it back. What might be smarter? Telling a false identity and being branded later as a liar or telling the truth and risking being attacked right on the spot for his past crimes? He chooses the second. "I am Prince Orm Marius of Atlantis and I am here in a purely private matter in the terms of education."  
"Liar."   
Now he is really surprised.  
"There is only a King Orm Marius in Atlantis."  
"Seems you haven´t heard the news. Atlantis has a new King and that one is called Arthur Curry. Or for us Atlanteans: King Orin. He wields King Atlans trident and is now the new King of Atlantis. I… I am a free man now, so to speak."  
"Bullshit."  
His eyes widen slightly by her talking to him like that and second for not believing him when he actually tells the truth.  
"Everybody knows that Atlans trident is lost."   
"Well… not anymore. Miss, I am willed to explain it to you if you take down your weapon. As you can see, I am unarmed but having sharp and pointy weapons hold against my throat is making me indeed slightly nervous."  
She considers shortly the pros and contras before she takes a step back and bringing her spear into a casual pose. "You are really his highness Orm Marius?"  
"You know my name but not my face?"  
"You know my face but not my name."  
Touché. "If that will be proof enough… The trident of King Orvax…" He takes the bag from his shoulder and pulling out the top of his father's trident, aware that she right away changes back into a defending position, ready to fight him any time. "And the trident of Queen Atlanna." He repeats it with his mother's trident. It was his only request during his three weeks of curfew at home. That the remains of both tridents be collected and brought to him. He sees in her eyes that she seems to recognize these tridents at least, relaxing again.  
"I am very sorry, your highness. Please forgive me for my behavior. Weeks ago, two have been broken into the ruins here."  
"A Half Atlantean and a Xebellian," he nods, stashing the broken pieces into the bag again. "The new King of Atlantis and…" And what. His ex-fiancée? His half-brother's `girlfriend´? "Princess Y'Mera Xebella Challa of Xebel."  
"Royal or not, they still broke in. We have been on high alert since then. They escaped sadly before we could catch them."  
Maybe everything would have turned out different if they had. "And you didn´t? You didn´t break in here?"  
She knits her brows. "No?"  
"But then why are you here? The Deserters Kingdom is long abandoned. The Deserters… are wiped out."  
She puts her free hand onto her hip, a crooked smile on her face. "It´s true what they say. All Atlanteans are arrogant."  
He can´t deny that. He admits that he too had been highly arrogant and still he thinks that he is better than a mere surface dweller.  
"It may have been turned into a desert but never abandoned. We still exist. We are still here." She can see how he thinks about what she said.  
"Then why… have you abandoned all other Kingdoms? Why have you turned your back at Atlantis? Xebel, Brine, the Fishermen?"  
"Maybe you should discuss that with our King. I am sure that King Deserio, like all of us, would be honored to welcome your highness as a guest. You´ll see, our capital is very fertile and full of life. It is also not recommended to walk these ruins unsupervised."  
He looks around and doesn´t doubt it. Old, cracked stones, broken formations, ground by sand through the centuries… One false step and he can be crushed and buried underneath a column or falling into a ravine. That´s not how he wants to end. He turns at her again. "The honor would be all mine, Miss…"  
"Just Sarah."  
"Sarah from the Sahara?"  
The tiny lift of the left corner of his lips paired with those eyes… "I know. My parents thought it funny. But Orvax, Orin, Orm… I see a pattern there."  
He shrugs his shoulders. "Parents… right?"


	4. Chapter 4

“If I may ask, your highness, why do you carry broken tridents with you?”  
Down here without the sky with a sun, moon, and stars and without maritime life having certain habits through the different times of day and night, he lost his feeling for time. Only the sunlight that breaks through cracks tells him that it´s still day outside. He can´t say how much time he already spent down there, copying the engravings or for how long he followed his guardian through tunnels and uneven ways. Five minutes? Half an hour? Two hours? He can´t say.  
“The Deserters had been Atlans weaponry. Here they build the first tridents, the legendary trident, the finest weapons of Atlantis. I hoped to fix them here.”  
“I am sure our weaponsmiths will find a way,” she smiles at him, “It would be a shame if those fine weapons would stay useless.”  
“Indeed…”  
“And only for that, basing on a few rumors, you came all the way from he gracious Atlantis into this desert?”  
Is that mockery in her voice? Well, to see now from the outside how Atlanteans act, how he must have looked for everyone else, his actions and decisions… he can´t blame her. He must admit, that they are really pretty arrogant. “Yes. All the way from Atlantis. But not only for the sake of the tridents. As I heard that the ruins were found, I needed to see them with my own eyes. Revealing all the knowledge they might contain that was lost for so many centuries. What we once had been… Our heritage, our history.”  
“Thirsty for knowledge.”  
He sees her smirking. “Are you not?”  
“A fool is the one who thinks he might know all. And the knowledge I still the biggest weapon.”  
“Indeed.” By now he´s a bit curious to see what the Deserters Kingdom is now and to meet King Deserio, to know why, when they were there all the time, they turned their back at them.  
“But fixing the tridents is a nice gesture. Especially the one of Queen Atlanna… the rumors are true then? That Queen Atlanna is alive and returned?” She noticed a small change in his breathing.  
“Yes. She is.”  
“Must be pretty heavy when your life turns upside down completely within a few days.”  
“It is.”  
Alright. Both topics are not ideal for a conversation, she thinks. Understandable in her eyes. “Just five more minutes and we´re there.”  
She leads the way over a bridge he barely feels safe on, considering that it hangs over a pit and swings with every step.  
“How and where did you find a way down here anyway?”  
“I… fell. I stepped onto the exact point the coordinates told me to but there was nothing beneath the sand. I… fell and slid down until I landed where you found me. Wait.” He fishes the device out of his bag that he was given by Mera, the one she used to find the forgotten Kingdom, turns it on and shows her.  
She takes it carefully from his hand, looking at it. “Ah! Now I know! Lucky you, my Prince.” She shuts it down and gives it back. “This entrance is to fool outsiders. Those who come here by rumors to rob the ruins, damaging them, trying to find us to lure us into a war, to do simply harm to our kind. The King will explain to you why we stayed dead for all. But again, and again some still tried to find us. So, we put a trap there.”  
“But these coordinates…”  
“Were found by archaeologists, had been official, yes, we knew. Just like Homer told everyone with his writings were Atlantis is, but would you like people from the outside actually find you? See. So we manipulated the entrance. It´s actually meant to kill every intruder.”  
…Nice.  
“You had been lucky.”  
“…Indeed.”  
He understands their motivation. True, he also wouldn´t want and never wanted that anyone from the outside, the surface, found Atlantis and if the possibility would have existed that surface dwellers found it, he too would have set up deadly traps. Protecting his people at all costs. She stops suddenly in front of a wall and so does he, watches her how she… opens a stone that reveals a device she puts her hand on.  
“Is it reading fingerprints?”  
She looks over her shoulder at him. “That and the body temperature and pulse. Otherwise, you could just cut off a hand and fool it but with body heat and pulse we are making sure that the one is not only of our kind but also alive.”  
He nods shortly. “But when someone would force you?”  
“We would rather die than letting anyone force us to betray our kind.”  
“Betrayal can be found everywhere. Even in those you trusted the most,” he speaks softly.  
She halfway turns around, simply looking at him by the softness in his voice. His gaze turned to the side, hold onto the ground. It sounds as if he was betrayed in his young life already so many times. She puts on a smile as he lifted his gaze again with the sound of the door opening. “We´re almost there, your highness.”  
Stepping in he realizes it is an elevator. A simple elevator of glass and steel and illuminated with soft light as the door closed. He feels slightly the small change of gravity as the lift went downwards. “I guess I can say already now that the Deserters are full of surprises.” The smirk on her face tells him that there is way more to come.  
“Hasn´t been the biggest surprise by now that we still exist?”  
“Yes. That can be hardly outdone.”  
She likes his crooked smile. And she likes the look in those pretty blue eyes as they come to a halt and the doors are opening again. Revealing the restored Kingdom.

‘Amazing` - is the only word that comes into his mind as he is lead by Sarah through the city. The path they are walking on is of firm light-colored stone, not a single grain of sand is dusting it. All the streets they are walking through look as if they had been shortly before their arrival cleaned up. The people… the only thing all have in common are the light and bright colored fabrics they are wearing. The color of skin and hair is so diverse, he has never seen such diversity in Atlantis. The first five times he has been aware of her greeting people here and there, the skeptical looks he gets at her side as an, so to speak, outsider and stranger. But soon he does not care anymore and is too captivated by what he sees. By what the Deserters Kingdom is now. It´s true what she said. It looks fertile and full of life. It´s so… green and this in a desert. Amazing. There are waterfalls on the walls that keep the city from being buried beneath the sand, fountains spending fresh water obviously through the whole time for everyone and everything, living, breathing water. Not the dead and stealth one of the surface dwellers that comes out of tubes or filled in bottles with fake tastes of ‘strawberries` or ‘oranges`. He suppresses the light shudder of disgust that crawls up within him thinking of that taste.  
Beneath the earth with so many sources of fresh, cold water the temperature is comfortable. Okay, currently everything beneath 50 degrees is comfortable for him considering the unbearable heat in the sun that burns on the surface. The air smells clean and fresh. These many sources of water are probably also the reason why so many trees, bushes, grass, and flowers are grown here, here in the desert. Between buildings, from time to time next to the streets are growing small islands of green. Just like algae, some plants are growing around the waterfalls and down and up the walls. He is surprised how… calm everything seems. He can hear people talking, laughing, arguing but it´s not loud and hectic how he got to know from the surface, the cities, streets and airports of those surface dwellers. It´s still somehow calm… He heard strange noises, high and light, looks up and… they are called birds if he remembers correct. Small creatures with feathers and wings flying between trees, the fountains, picking up crumbles from the street.  
And the architecture… not so different from home, he thinks. Glass and steel, everything is so clean and… round. The dominant color is white, probably to keep the temperatures cool per day and stay comfortable, not saving the heat from the outside. He sees façades built into the stone of the walls. Resourceful and smart, he thinks, and he can´t imagine the dimension of how big the city actually is, how wide and huge the Kingdom is today. He can imagine that the biggest part is still hidden from the plain view.  
Bright daylight descends from an opening high above their heads. It´s just like a hole high above but bright sunlight shines down onto a small island right underneath it in the middle of a lake. Only with coming closer he saw the strategically placed mirrors around it. His eyes following the beams of light they are reflecting and sees that everywhere, through the whole city are those mirrors placed to reflect the light. That´s why it is so bright here underneath the surface… An ancient technique but very abundant.  
They pass the lake and the water is so clear… he can see, like with an iceberg, that the main part of the island lies underneath. A look within in the lake and he can look deep down onto the ground, can see its rocks and small fishes swimming in it. He can smell the salt in the water. “Is this connected to the open sea?”  
“It is. We may live on dry land, but water belongs to our element just like the sand around us. And it is way better to travel per sea than walking through the desert.”  
“And faster.”  
“This too. There, the Palace.”  
He looks at where she is pointing. He can only see a façade and it looks like the ruins he had been walking through. But it looks nevertheless impressive. He only wonders that they could pass the gates without any troubles because he is a stranger and his face obviously unknown here. He also wonders as she leads him very determined through corridors. Simple and not distracting, without any needless pomp, how a royal palace should be. Only a few huge carpets decorating the walls, woven and stitched carefully. Heritage, he guesses. Artifacts from past times, something they must be proud of. He too was always considerate to keep the palace in Atlantis free of wasteful pomp. As Royals, they must be a role model to the common people. Royalty means duty. A point he doesn´t entrust Arthur to fulfill completely. He doesn´t doubt the part about being modest, but the part of being a King and all the duties that are coming hand in hand with that position. He had been a free man for decades and bound himself now to the throne with all its duties. Even with Mera at his side who knows too well, just like he, what royalty and duties mean, what it means to Atlantis and its people…  
He gets the inkling that Sarah seems to be more than a simple guard patrolling the ruins of the Forgotten Kingdom. When he looks at her… she walks a bit too straight for a simple guard but too casual for someone who is only in the palace for duty and work. Too determined for someone who is not at home in these walls. Her face is too clean for a guard doing daily his duty in dusty ruins. Her cheeks too… rosy and round. Her fingernails… he doesn´t know any guard, any soldier professionally getting a manicure. She speaks way too casually with him, acts too casually around him, former King and Prince of Atlantis, to be a guard who's been trained to only speak to one like him when being asked. Why hasn´t he seen it before?  
She knocks at a door and after a voice from the inside calling her in, she opens the door, gesturing him inside and closing the door behind him again.  
“Your majesty, I have found an intruder.”  
Your majesty. Then this must be King Deserio standing with his back at them, stroking with a finger over the binding of books that rest in the shelve in front of him. No formal clothes, no crown on his head, but the same color in the hair like she has. The color of the sunrise he can´t really describe. He interrupts the search for a book he might be looking for, turns around and…  
“Sir, you don´t look like a grave robber.”  
“Your majesty, this is his royal highness Prince Orm Marius of Atlantis.”  
“What happened to King Orm Marius?”  
“Long story, your majesty. King Deserio I guess?”  
“The very same.”  
He bowed his head. Something he had only done in front of his father but he is in no position anymore, don´t have the privilege anymore to look a King straight in the eyes. But the King simply takes his hand, a firm handshake follows.  
“It is a great pleasure and honor to meet the former King of Atlantis.”  
The smile is friendly. “The honor is all mine. Until today I thought the Deserters had been extinguished.” The laugh is honest.  
“Well, the condemned live longer, they say, right? Come, sit down. A prince of Atlantis shouldn´t stand.” He turns at Sarah who leaned her spear next to the door, stepped forward and took a stack of books from a chair at the sitting group at the other side of the room. “My dear…”  
My dear…  
“Would you please make the call to the kitchen to send some refreshments? You already got to know my daughter, Princess Sarah, I guess?”  
“She found me, yes.” He turns at her, a tiny smirk plays around his lips. “Princess,” he whispers as she passes him to leave.  
“Never reveal all at once of yourself.” She mirrors his smirk, walking past him and leaving the room.  
Shortly he looks after her before he follows the King of the Deserters and sitting down.


	5. Chapter 5

Talking with King Deserio was pleasurable. Of course, he wanted to know why he is not any longer the King of Atlantis and what he wanted in the ruins of the old Kingdom and why he even came here. But he didn´t ask further questions about these. The atmosphere was relaxed, it was not like a hard-political talk between two rulers. As he told that he wanted to see the ruins himself and his main motivation was and are to simply gain the knowledge he was even offered access to the library of the palace that contains ancient texts and the help of his scholars who are, so the King said, experts in ancient Atlantean.  
He looks over his shoulder to the door as he hears it opens and is a little surprised to see the Princess bringing the refreshments the King asked for. Not a servant? She puts the tray on the table, taking small bowls with, he guesses some kind of food judged by the smell and placing these on the table. Followed by cups with a steaming liquid. Tea, he knows this immediately. The smell, the color, it must be freshly brewed tea. And with the smell, he knows also that his mother would have liked this kind.  
“Thank you, my dear,” Deserio smiles at his daughter and gesturing her to sit down. “I just told our honorable guest about the library and the scholars.”  
“I caught him copying the engravings of the columns at the boulevard.” She leans forward, pointing at the different bowls. “These are dates, a very sweet fruit. This is baklava, some kind of pastries made out of the flaky pastry, filled with almonds and pickled for some time in sugar syrup. And these are pomegranate seeds. Be careful, they are very juicy and can turn your fingers red.”  
“Are these sweet too?”  
“Yes.”  
“I see, the Deserters seem to like sweets.”  
She grins and takes a date before leaning back.  
He does it like the King and takes on of the cups with the hot beverage. What a surprise, it smells sweet too but there is also something different. He takes the first sip and likes this one actually. Probably because the water they use for it is different from the one his mother uses in the lighthouse. He can taste the difference of the water on his tongue, he can smell it.  
“If his highness is this eager in ancient Atlantean,” Deserio starts, “then I am pretty sure our scholars will be delighted to teach you in these.”  
“I would feel honored, your majesty.”  
“From one royal to another, let´s stay with Deserio.”  
“Orm,” he nods, returning the smile of the king and taking his hand for a handshake. Everything here seems to be so casual… His father would have punished everyone who didn´t address him with his proper title. During the conversation, he tried all treats and the baklava one was by far the sweetest thing he ever tasted. It is so sweet he had to bring up all his self-control to not show how every muscle in his face was twisting by the extreme sweetness.  
Two hours past and by the end of the conversation he will stay as an honorable guest, under the promise that he will be silent to every contact to the outside he has about their existence. King Deserio even looked proud to host an heir of the legendary King Atlan. He will have rooms for his own, unlimited access to the library and the King will handpick the scholars who will teach him everything he wants to know and answering him every question he has. The princess herself offered to guide him safely through the ruins if he wishes to visit these again and to serve as his guide for all belongings about the Deserters and the city.

“If you´ll miss anything in your chambers or general, don´t be shy to say so. The bag is all you have with you?”  
“Didn´t think to meet a princess on my travel I should impress with my attire.”  
“I never lied. You simply asked for my name and that is Sarah, not Princess Sarah,” she smirks, leading him further down the floors to the rooms that have been prepared for his stay while they were talking.  
“I never accused you. I´ve learned the same lesson. One might never know what the opponent has in mind. Good or bad intentions. It´s always wise to keep something in the back of your hand. The surprise should be on your side.”  
“Has it been on my side?” She looks up to him. There it is again. The tiny lift of the corner of his lips.  
“I had an inkling as we entered the palace."  
“Tell me, what blew me.”  
“Manicured nails, neatly done hair, rosy cheeks, too clean, you walk to casual inside the palace walls, you talked to casually with me for being someone who had been indoctrinated to speak only with royalty when having permission.”  
“I´ll think of those the next time.”  
He stops as she stops in front of a door.  
“I guess they gave you a smartphone before you left?”  
He takes the device out, his mother gave him before he was leaving for his travel. Arthur gave it to her. Two numbers are saved, his and their mothers one, for the case something terrible happens to him. So that he can be contacted at any time and that he can contact them at any time. It is also useful in serving as a translator for the many languages on the surface and for maps and coordinates. It can tell him all times the exact point where he is. He admits… better than any navigator he used so far. Mother also pleaded him to do a lot of photos of the forgotten Kingdom and places she hasn´t been yet. He hands it over to her and witnesses how she takes out her own, turning both on and tipping fast on the displays simultaneously. Finished with what she was doing she holds his phone against a panel in the wall next to the door. The display lightens up and a clicking sound is to be heard.  
She turns around to him, handing him his phone back. “Now you have access to almost everything here.”  
“Almost?”  
“To get access to my rooms, my prince, you have to do a bit more than having just such pretty blue eyes,” she winks and enters the chambers behind the door.  
He is shortly taken aback once more by how she speaks with him and… was this a compliment? ‘Pretty blue eyes`. Does she admire the color of his eyes? He collects himself together and follows her.  
He is impressed. Mostly because it´s so different from the Atlantean style. The ceiling and walls are plain white, but the floor is covered with soft carpets in bright colors and floral patterns. There are no walls to separate the different rooms, just pillars and veils between these doing the work of walls. The furniture… in this room at least there are no chairs or sofas as he uses to know. A table with only a few inches high was placed in the middle, big cushioned pillows placed around it. On a tablet rest a bowl of different fruits. He recognizes dates from earlier, glasses and a carafe filled with fresh water. Her voice interrupts his thoughts.  
“If you want to watch TV or anything you can control all via your phone. The app is called Scheherazade. With that, you can control all technical devices in your rooms, the temperature, the air, the humidity, even the temperature of the water for a bath or shower.” She gestures him to follow her.  
Compared to everything else on this Palace he saw, with the simple plain walls, the bathroom was richly decorated. The tiles on the walls are brightly colored, dominant is a golden shimmer and an orange to red over brown colors. What she calls a tub he would describe as a pool. Embedded in the floor it was big enough that he for sure can take a few swimming strokes. The bedroom… he gets an inkling that the Deserters don´t seem to be fond of furniture with wooden or metallic frames. The nightstands are indeed of dark wood with such rich carvings that they look itself like a piece of art. The bed itself looked as if it´s just two mattresses with pillows and blankets, shielded by veils around the bed and big enough for at least five people he guesses.  
“Don´t the Deserters like real furniture? Like chairs with a backrest and legs or beds with frames? Or is your kind afraid of highs?”  
A sound of amusement leaves her lips. “We adapted customs from the local people living above. Improvise. Adapt. Overcome. It was necessary for our ancestors especially and for us today to survive. If you don´t respect the culture and traditions of the people around you, you are doomed to fail. With time you´ll see elements from Egypt, Saudi-Arabia, Marocco, Turkey… North-Africa, the Middle East and partly Asia. A bit here, a bit there. You´ll see it mostly in the evening with dinner.”  
“Is there… going to be a festivity?” He prays silently that this might not be the case. He doesn´t want to have attention, being the center of the evening and explaining several times in the evening why he is not to be addressed as King anymore. That´s not why he came here. Three months ago he couldn´t have cared less but three months ago he was still King of Atlantis.  
“No. It´s just an ordinary dinner. My father, myself, you…”  
He thanks in silence all gods above and below. He doesn´t want to ask about a possible mother or siblings. Maybe they are deceased or left her and the King behind, he doesn´t want to be rude or insensitive, though it was not possible for him to know.  
“There is going to be one in two days but we just welcome back my mother and sisters.”  
A breath of relief.  
”They had been on a trip in Kairo. Depending on how long you wish to stay we could go there too. The ancient Egyptians were fascinating people. You´d be astonished by their Pyramids and temples.”  
“We will see,” he nods.  
“But for now, I´ll leave you so you can rest. When it´s time I´ll pick you up. Don´t worry about the attire, clothes will be sent into these rooms.” She nods and turns around to leave as his voice holds her back.  
“Thank you. For your hospitality and kindness…”  
“No problem,” she simply smiles back and leaves.  
As he heard the door being shut again, he lets his bag gliding to the floor and sits down onto the bed. Everything here fascinates him slightly. Everything here is so… soft and calm, comfortable. Yes, he complained back in the lighthouse how everything is so soft on the surface. He was not used to it, it was too strange that all was soft on the inside and only a few meters away were the hard rocks of the coast and the unforgiving harsh sea crashing against these and the pier when the wind was raging. But here in the desert… everything is soft and warm. The sand, the sun, all those cushions and pillows here, how they speak with each other, how they act with each other… He can´t hear a single sound except his own breathing in these rooms. He leans back and closes his eyes, enjoying, almost bathing in the silence that surrounds him. Not even the ocean can be this silent…


	6. Chapter 6

He wakes up through a buzzing sound and a vibrating at his chest. Right now, he doesn´t know how much time passed, how long he slept. He sighs, sits up slowly and shortly rubs his eyes before taking the phone out of the inner pocket of his attire. The Display tells him that it´s his mother. Another sigh before he hits the button to answer the call.  
“Orm, my dear, how are you? Where are you now?”  
He is pretty sure they know where he is, he is sure that they track him through this phone. He is, after all, a criminal. But it´s better than being imprisoned.  
“Are you alright? I haven´t heard of you a whole day, I was worried.”  
“I am alright, mother, thank you.”  
“Have I woken you? Were you sleeping? I am sorry, my dear.”  
“No, no, it´s alright. Promise.” He suppresses a deep breath.  
“Where are you? Have you found the ruins yet?”  
“Yes. Impressive. Very impressive.”  
“Where do you stay? Please tell me you don´t sleep in the ruins.”  
“A hotel. It´s nice here.” A knot starts to grow in his stomach for lying at his mother. But he promised to not tell any living soul on the outside about the Deserters. He had been lied to and betrayed for so long and many times, he can´t misuse the trust he was given now when they are so far nothing but kind to him. He is sure that King Deserio made his researches by now about the exact happenings that lead to him being dethroned and yet no guards had stormed in to take him out.  
“Where?”  
“Kairo,” Sarah mentioned that place earlier, her mother and sisters would be there for a visit. He doesn´t know any other place by name around here.  
“Oh, Kairo! I saw pictures and read about it. The Pyramids, the Sphinx, the tombs of the Pharaohs… I am sure you like it there! I know, it´s dry land, very dry land. But give it a chance.”  
“I do, mother.”  
“Would you mind taking pictures for me?”  
He voice was suddenly sheepishly. As if she doesn´t want to bother him with this simple, beneath his task, but also desperately, eagerly wants to see the place he is at.  
“I don´t mind. I´ll try to take as many as possible.” What is he doing…? But can he decline her that wish? Can he decline his mother that simple wish? Can he, when he now hears the gleeful sound of her? When at least for once has the chance to make her happy?  
“I was worried for you…”  
“I am sorry. I won´t forget it tomorrow. Promise.”  
“As long as you are fine and save, I am alright. Goodbye, my son.”  
My son… “Goodbye, mother.”  
“Goodbye.”  
“Goodbye.” Right after hitting the red button he lets himself fall back onto the bed and groans. Why did he mention Kairo? Why did he say yes to taking pictures? How does he get out of this situation again?

She tried to read, she went into the kitchen, making a tea, trying to read again and then walking just up and down, wringing her hands. Atlanna was indeed worried for her younger son. He doesn´t have the experience with the surface and its people like she or Arthur have. He is far away, a different country, a different continent, all strange to him, a whole different climate and culture. Is he alright? Did he find the ruins? Did he get lost? In the desert? Has he a safe place to stay?  
“Call him. I am sure he´s alright and just forgot. He´s probably just too deep in his thoughts when he found the ruins.”  
She turns around and sees Tom standing in the door, leaning against the door frame, arms crossed in front of his chest.  
“You won´t calm down anyway until you´ve heard a word. I am sure he forgot through the different time zone. Must be late in the afternoon there.”  
She smiles lovingly at him. “Sorry to bother you with this…”  
A waving gesture with his hand. “Not the only day I spent pacing up and down because of a son of yours,” he smirks.  
She takes her phone from the kitchen table and dials the number of Orm. It´s ringing and ringing and ringing… “Orm, my dear, how are you? Where are you right now? Are you alright? I haven´t heard of you for a whole day, I was worried.” A breath of relief leaves her lungs as she hears his voice, his sleepy voice, and there was nothing hinting that he might be in trouble, clutching her chest and sits down on a chair. That´s all she needed to know. He is alive, he is alright, he has a safe place to stay. He gives it a chance. Maybe Tom is right. Maybe he just needs time, a lot of time, for himself to figure out what he´s going to do with himself and his future. Even when it hurts that he obviously can´t stand having her around in that time but yes. She admits, she would like to make up for the past years all at once and this is probably too much for him, not the right way. Not for him. But now he is alright and that is all that matters.

Sarah offered him to visit Kairo at one point as she mentioned her mother and sisters. Maybe he can delay his studies of the ruins and go to Kairo first? If he asks nicely?  
He stands up and goes into the bathroom. The light seems natural everywhere, not fake, artificial and too bright, but he can´t see any windows anywhere. He will ask about that. He goes through the different drawers, finds towels, everything he might need for shaving from the traditional way to a modern razor, different kinds of body wash, shampoo, styling products. `If you´ll miss anything’ – there is no way that he can miss anything. The only problem he´ll maybe have is to decide for a scent otherwise the range does not let him miss anything.  
The water is comfortably warm as he turns on the tap at the washing basin. Wetting his face and stroking his hair back before fixing it. He turns his head from one side to the other, watching himself in the mirror and bracing his hands on the edge of the basin. Should he get a haircut? He´s used to wearing it like now for years but maybe now… a new beginning, a new part of his life, leaving all that belongs to the past behind… He sighs. He has really no idea. Will it change anything? Probably not.  
He leaves the bathroom and goes over to the parlor. Sarah said that clothes will be brought to him but he´s still surprised to see the rack full of several attires. All colorful and bright, some threaded with gold and silver. But before taking a closer look at these he pours himself a glass of water from the carafe on the small table. It tastes so good… fantastic! He empties two glasses of it and truly feels refreshed. Turning his attention now to the wardrobe he recognizes this style from the street as Sarah lead him to the Place, from pictures he saw while researching the region around the desert and read that this a traditional kind of style. Of course, he did his research. He didn´t want to insult anyone and get arrested for it because he made a wrong gesture with his hand or anything similar. Causing the death of thousands of people worldwide by sending their trash back in huge tidal waves caused him now enough problems. Sure, he can fight his way out when being arrested but it would cause only bigger problems and Arthur picking him up is the last thing he needs right now. Though he doesn´t want to prove his mother that Arthur is indeed the golden child and him, so to speak, only the black sheep. Doesn´t want to see the disappointment in her eyes when Arthur drags him back to Amnesty Bay. Doesn´t want to prove what Vulko says, that he´s unredeemable… the most treacherous snake of all…  
The kaftan was plain white, but he likes the texture, the fabric as he touches it. He guesses it might be the most comfortable thing to wear on the surface with those hot temperatures. The other brightly colored clothes… he can´t remember what it´s called or if he even read about it. Several pieces, trousers, shirts and something he can only describe as a short coat but made from way finer fabric. It feels silky between his fingers.

Sarah knocks and waits until she hears his voice calling her in or him opening the door. She did make her research and knows now everything she needs to know besides his side of the story about the events that lead to him being dethroned. He doesn´t seem like someone being so radical to wedge war against the surface and flooding the coasts with all the trash that had been left in the oceans for decades. He… seems to be too calm in her eyes than going all radical. So far, he was only modest and nice, calm and respectful. In her eyes… he seems to be lonely. Often, he was looking to the floor or aside, seems to be occupied with his own thoughts. When her father asked him about the events that led to his current situation, she could see broken pride and shame in his eyes. Also, she doesn´t know anyone who would, with archaeological interest, travel all alone into the Sahara Desert for researching in ruins. Anyone who not desperately wants to be alone would at least take someone with him, especially in the matter of the Desert and ruins where so many terrible things can happen. And all alone… It´s too early to say if he might be happy or not about his current situation. But she imagines it that it´s not easy. It seems… ungrateful in her eyes to send the former king off into the desert all alone. Like ´Thank you for your service but it´s not any longer required, goodbye - here´s a gift card`. Even if he truly wanted to be alone, it´s reckless to not persist on sending someone with him. Especially when he not only was dethroned because someone else found the legendary trident and claims it as his own but also for his actions against the Brine, Fishermen and the surface. For years here they only always heard in the concern of Atlantis that King Orm was the best that could happen to Atlantis. That Atlantis and its people had always been his priorities. Crimes had been cut to its half. Not only through stricter laws but also through giving help to those who needed it. He reformed the education system, the social and security system, the benefit and health system, cutting the benefits of those who are of royal descent or rich and rose the luxury taxes for them. Everybody should have a chance to rise above their station, even those who are not of royal descent because they all are Atlantis. He was truly magnificent in his job as King, erasing the mistakes his father had done during his reign. This was a reign by someone who wanted to distance himself as much as possible from his predecessor.  
If it truly was his idea alone to send those catastrophically tsunamis of trash… it was too radical, yes. People died, no cause is justified when innocents must give their life. But she can comprehend his motivation. She doesn´t know what her father might do if the people from the surface would continually and systematically destroy for decades the environment, they are living in. At least it woke them up. In every News, TV, and paper or the internet, they are talking about the trash, the huge amount of plastic poisoning the seas, that they are producing so much trash that needs centuries to rot away and how to avoid making more trash, how to clean up the oceans, how to keep them plastic free. As terrible as the act was, it still had a positive effect.  
Personally, she likes the gesture of him carrying the broken tridents of his parents with him in the hope he might be able to fix them. It tears a tiny bit at her heart.  
She also admits how handsome he looks, even beautiful. The pale taint with the silver-blond hair and such intense blue eyes. Every line in his face is straight and smooth. The clothes don´t show much but they can´t hide his broad shoulders and that he´s tall and lean.  
She knocks again her knuckles softly against the door. As she neither hears steps nor his voice she enters the safety code into the panel by the door and steps in. Maybe he is just asleep or maybe not. One may never know. But she is reassured as she finds him in the bedroom, struck by the sight he gives. The legs in tight golden trousers and the intense blue silk of the coatlike garment he wears compared with those blue eyes of his as he turns around and looks at her... she takes a deep breath and tries hard that no 'wow' slips from her lips. She made a good choice in choosing the attires. Not easy when she just can judge by the sheer look.  
"I am sorry. I´ve knocked but as you didn´t open I let myself in."  
"I am sorry, I haven´t heard it." He puts a hand onto his chest, bows his head slightly while apologizing.  
"I see, you´ve found the mirror," she smiles and tears her eyes off him. "I hope you are satisfied with the attires?"  
"Thank you. They are all pleasingly. I saw already on the streets that your kind seems to like bright colors."  
"Atlanteans don´t?"  
"We tend to... low-keyed colors." He took a bath before redressing and his inkling got confirmed. He can take a few strokes of swimming in what they call a bathtub. It felt so good, even if it only had been three strokes, but even these three strokes felt like a reliever. It had been too long since he could have stayed underwater and taken even a few strokes. Even as he was brought to his mother onto the surface he was transported in a ship. He truly didn´t hear her knocking. Probably the combination that he was too occupied to watch himself in the mirror - he figured out the app on the phone she installed and told him about to control everything in his rooms with it - in the foreign attire and that, he guesses, her knocks were just as soft as her voice, the way they talk and every gesture of them.  
He is aware of her gaze going up and down on him once. After the casual clothes from earlier, her look pleases his eyes right now too. Sleeveless he can see that her arms are fit and her spear from earlier is not a decorative accessory. The dress is white and long enough to hide her feet, the collar with golden embroidery and the neckline modest. Still, no Atlantean woman would have shown her bare arms in public. Her hair is still done in a ponytail.  
"Well, our surrounding is plain enough," she smiles and shrugs her shoulders. "I came because I wanted to ask if you´d care to join my father and me for dinner?"  
"I would be honored, princess."  
"What happened to 'just Sarah'?"  
He mirrors her smirk. "If you persist, your highness... it is far beyond my intentions to insult you."  
Again he puts his right hand onto his chest and bows his head slightly. "I persist," she grins. "And if you´re hungry you better follow me." She nods towards the door and turns her back at him to proceed.  
He holds his breath shortly as she turns around and he sees how very deceiving her dress is, how modest the front looks but how bare her back is. He casts his eyes down, feeling guilty and shameful to have stared at her. He is better than that. He was raised to better than acting like the common man and staring at a woman only because she shows bare skin... still he follows her.


	7. Chapter 7

He was thankful to the princess being thoughtful enough to explain all dishes that are served and offered that at any time she could make a call to the kitchen to prepare something different for him if nothing of the served things would be to his liking or if he wishes for something specifically. But there was no need to.  
He is surprised that they sat on the floor on cushioned pillows on a carpet during dinner after the lead him to a sort of parlor. But she told him that it would be the main room where the family gathered together. May it be for dinner, studying together, playing, discussing family matters or simply spending time together. In Atlantis, every concern has its own room. One for studying, one for dinner...  
Some of the dishes were purely vegetarian and others spicy, some of them even too spicy for him and he almost choked with tears in his eyes and suddenly feeling very hot. She laughed and handed him a glass of sweet peppermint tea, saying it would help and thankfully it did. At least one person in the world he could make laugh...  
The only meat, she explained to him, they would eat there, the Kingdom would be chicken and fish. Chickens would be easier to keep where they live then, such as cows and going to the surface, to the next big city, a supermarket or simply a street market, and then trying to cool the meat for the travel back, is simply not worth the effort. He doesn´t mind. Gladly he tries the chicken dishes. He had fish and oysters and other seafood for so long...  
King Deserio asked him about dishes and customs in Atlantis, listened with interest until he was called out of the room in a matter that couldn´t be delayed. He turns at Sarah, taking a deep breath, thinking about how he should begin. Kairo, his mother's request...  
"Sarah? Can I... make a request?" She just finished what she explained to him earlier is a falafel, witnessing her how she licks her fingers clean after that. A gesture so scurrilous... so scandalous for his Atlantean education that his eyes are kept on her lips and fingers for a few seconds, unable to look away and he´s not sure if he should be scandalized by it or...  
"Yes, go ahead."  
Her voice makes him tearing his eyes off her lips and raising them to look into hers. She sits plainly on the carpet, her legs bent, supporting herself on one hand and slightly leaned back. He himself sits crossed-legged and runs his hands nervously once up and down his thighs. "I... would like to delay my studies of the ruins."  
"Oh... and why the sudden change of mind, if I may ask?"  
"You mentioned Kairo and the ancient Egyptians earlier and... I looked it up in the meantime and am fascinated by these and would like to see it first."  
"And why did you really changed your mind suddenly?"  
He simply looks at her for one, two seconds, before he smirks and looks down onto his hands. Just like he as future King of Atlantis, she as Princess learned, had been a part of her education, to study people. An important ability in their position. "I apologize for deceiving you."  
"You didn´t deceive me."  
"I apologize for being bold enough to try. The true reason is that I received a call of Lady Atlanna."  
"Your mother."  
He nods shortly before continuing. "I´ve missed to contact her if I have arrived and been alright. I promised your father to not tell anyone on the outside of you and you mentioned Kairo and it was the first thing that came into my mind as she asked me where I would stay... In a hotel in Kairo. She told me she had read about it, how amazing the temples and pyramids are looking and asked me to take pictures. I couldn´t deny her that and said yes."  
"And now you want to go to Kairo to take these for your mother?"  
As he looks up he saw that one certain smirk on her lips she gave him already a few times on this day. "Yes," he nods but doesn´t tell that he wants to because it´s probably the only way, he thinks, that he can elicit that one certain smile of happiness from his mother.  
"But you don´t have to lie to your own mother." She leans in closer, putting her hand onto his upper arm. Even though the fabric she can feel his bicep. "I know what my father requested but it´s more meant that you don´t go out and boasting around. It is clearly excluding mothers."  
His eyes wandering to her hand on his arm. Maybe he looked slightly shocked because she takes her hand off again but he is not used to people... being so candid, open-hearted, physical in everything. No one simply touched him in Atlantis. No handshakes are exchanged, no friendly, familiar clap on the shoulders. He was the King after all. And before he was the crown prince. His mother taking his hand or embracing him had been the only touches lately. And even those feel awkward for him.  
At this moment the doors open and King Deserio returns, sitting down on the same spot he sat before he left, to the left side of Orm. "Papa! I have a wonderful idea!"  
"Go ahead, my dear."  
"How about I´ll go to Kairo to pick up mother and the others?"  
"That would be a nice surprise, your mother would like it for sure. And?" The King has an inkling that there is more. That his eldest won´t go to Kairo simply for picking up her mother and sisters. He knows that there must be more behind it. And he is proven right.  
"And I´ll take Prince Orm with me."  
"You don´t have to agree if you don´t want to. I know, she can be very persuasive with words."  
Orm looks at the King as he feels his hand on his shoulder. "The princess offered it to me mere moments ago, Deserio. I wouldn´t mind at all. I guess before I study the ruins below the surface, I should start with those above." He smiles his diplomatic smile. "I was told the ancient Egyptians had been very intelligent and advanced."  
"Oh, they were, trust me," smiles the King. "Well, in that case..." he claps twice in his hands and Orm sees now that they have indeed servants around here. At least something they have in common.  
The servant bends down as the King speaks to him. "Prepare the ship for a trip to Kairo tomorrow morning."  
"Yes, majesty," the servant nods and leaves the room right away.  
"I guess two days won´t be enough to see all."  
"It will be enough for a start," smiles Orm. "I have an inkling that even weeks and months won´t be enough to take in all the beauty that the ancient culture has to offer."  
"I am not sure now if I am speaking with a diplomat or a scholar, smirks Deserio before he starts to laugh lowly, clapping his guest softly onto the back of his shoulder. "I just want to warn you, three teenage girls are coming back with the two of you. Don´t try to back talk to them. You can only lose. I am loosing at least thirty times a day."  
Orm throws a questioning look at Sarah.  
"Aliza and Arsinoe are twins, seventeen. Nuriel is the youngest, she´s fourteen."  
"And you?"  
"You don´t ask a lady about her age," she smirks and is amused to see a slight blush on his cheeks. "Don´t worry, it´s alright. I´m twenty- seven."  
Just two years younger than him, he thinks. "There is a huge gap between you and your sisters when I am counting correctly."  
"I was the child they practiced with, every firstborn is."  
"You know that this is not true," interferes the King, "We just... well... wanted to figure out... you grew well and turned out just fine and then we knew..."  
"The others could only turn out better?"  
"Sarah..."  
"It´s alright, father, I understand," she smiles, "I know at least that I haven´t been as exhausting as a teenager as the others."  
"And we´re still thanking all gods above and below for this."  
He doesn´t know if he should feel comfortable or not. He never experienced such kind of dinners, that people are so... debonair. That´s... not how dinner is supposed to be in his experience. During dinner, when he wasn't taking it alone in his rooms, it was silent. Sitting at a table on a chair with plates and cutlery, not a word was spoken until the King raised his voice and if guests had been there the topics never had been the family life but hard politics. He already learned that it can be different with every casual dinner in the lighthouse, how casual they are on the surface but here it is a whole new level of casualty. "When tomorrow morning do you plan to leave for Kairo?" A turn of the conversation he feels more comfortable with.  
"Around seven a.m. I would say. We don´t need long until we arrive but this early grants us more time in Kairo. And it´s not so hot and warm early in the morning."  
"I am ready to do everything to avoid this unbearable heat."  
She laughs lowly, drawing his gaze onto her. "It is not that terrible. Well, we are used to it, we found our ways to make it bearable. But I can understand that it´s probably different in Atlantis. Pretty cold, I assume? I guess as much as you struggle with our climate here, I would with the temperatures in Atlantis," she winks, "I am simply not used to such low temperatures."  
"Volcanos, hot springs and geysers are the only sources we have that produce such a heat."  
"Plus you, right?" She giggles and softly shoves her elbow against his arm.  
Surprised? Alarmed? He can´t tell what expression he wears on his face now but he shortly looks over to King Deserio, seeing he is talking to a servant, a breath of relief, and looks back at her. "Uhm..." He heard correct that she just implied him being hot, right? In the term like those surface dwellers... what do they call it? Flirting. He read it on this internet as he spends his time in lighthouse informing himself about the surface culture and heard it and embarrassingly saw it too in the television his mother urged him to watch. A low and primitive form of courting, and so far he understood, only to satisfy primitive needs. And the television showed him it´s also often combined with alcoholic beverages. He knows he his considered as handsome, blessed with his mother's genes, his face with soft features and similar to an ancient hero, an ancient beauty, he heard them whisper in the corridors and halls after he passed. His physique through years of training and fighting steeled. He knows of his good looks. They favored to compare him with Apollo and Eros. Though the titles Crown Prince and King are seductively enough. But he is not used to it that a woman, a lady, Princess (!) is so open and direct.  
"I´m joking," she grins, softly slapping him playfully against his arm. There it is again. That slight blush. She hopes to elicit that more often in the coming days. "Papa?"  
"Yes, my dear?"  
"I would suggest that we retreat now for today considering our early leave tomorrow. Of course only if you´re alright with it?"  
"Sure," he nods, "Just as you said, we´re leaving early tomorrow."  
"Of course, my dear," nods Deserio. "I don´t want our guest to suffer from your lack-of-sleep-mood."  
She rolls her eyes. "Really, father?" Gracefully in one swift move, she stands up and goes over to her father. A kiss on the cheek and a goodnight follow.  
He wishes a good night too, rising to his feet, thanks for the dinner and lets the princess leading him the way back to his rooms. "I have to thank once more for your kindness and hospitality."  
"What else should we do with a Prince of Atlantis? Blackmailing the King of Atlantis and demanding a ransom?" She laughs lowly. "That´s how we are. Hospitality is a treasured good for us. If we want to be respected we have to respect others. If someone is in need we help so we are given aid when we are in need. It comes naturally for us," she shrugs with her shoulders. "We are thought to be kind because it makes no effort, doesn´t cost anything and makes the world so much better. Imagine how the world would be if everybody would be kind towards each other?"  
"Probably better, I guess," he nods and sighs, casting his eyes to the floor. 'Kindness is a weakness. Your mother was kind and she was the biggest weakness this kingdom ever had.' The words of his father echoing through his mind. "The dinner was different... I still have to get used to the different tastes and here... by Zeus these spices."  
She laughs lowly, remembering him almost choking earlier from one single bite. "You´ll get used to it, promise."  
"When you say so," he smirks. "Goodnight."  
"Goodnight."


	8. Chapter 8

He wakes up through the soft chirping of birds. With a sigh, he slowly opens his eyes. There are luckily no birds in his rooms and only dimmed light floods these. Is this their waking call? Pleasant, he admits. Still, he stays in bed a few more minutes, recalling the past day. The bed, despite how soft it is, is comfortable. He can´t say he had a terrible night, the contrary. He slept well and doesn´t feel as exhausted as he did every morning in Amnesty Bay. It is probably the environment that unnerves him. Being so close to the sea that he can smell it with every breath. Tasting it on his tongue. Hearing it every waken minute. And the people surrounding him. Being reminded every day that he is the failure, the one that shouldn´t exist. The mistakes he did, the wrongs he caused, the disappointment he must be in his mother's eyes... Hearing constantly that he 'will get used to it'. That his father only told lies and taught him the hate that lingers inside him. It´s probably because no one here tells him regularly that he has too much of his father in him, the liar. But that he has the face of his mother, the traitor. It´s maybe because he is not reminded here every hour of what was once his, is now lost for him forever and belongs now to his brother. Who is only a halfbreed, who only spend his life on the surface, who was never taught to rule? But he himself... Why is he not worthy when he is of pure blood, when he gave his whole life to Atlantis, every waken hour when he did everything possible for the sake of Atlantis. When he spent years and years to become the best King Atlantis ever had, the best warrior Atlantis ever had, the best-educated scholar Atlantis ever had, the best, the best, the best... Years and years where he just worked to become the best in everything. And it still wasn´t enough...  
Another sigh and he sits up, throwing the blanket off and leaving the bed. He shoves all those thoughts into the very back of his mind. Today he is going to see Kairo. Today he will take photos of the Pyramids and the Sphinx and mummies and hieroglyphics just to make his mother happy for once. And he will get to know more about the ancient Egyptians. And when he will be back down here he will learn ancient Atlantean, he will study the language, he will study the ruins. No one in the whole of Atlantis will be as educated as he is going to be. He read up about the old Egyptians on his smartphone before he finally went to sleep. He didn´t want to be completely clueless when he stands in front of the Pyramids and has no idea what Sarah talks about. It would be embarrassing. He is fascinated by the mummies. That they were able to truly preserve their Kings and Queens for all eternity. He saw pictures of mummies that still had hair, one still wore a smile on the face... something that would never be possible in Atlantis itself. He definitely needs to see some, needs to know more about these.   
He goes into the bathroom, refreshing himself with a shower and as he returns to get dressed there stands a little cart with a tray that holds breakfast. Seeing this is nothing new to him. At home it was ordinary for him that meals have been brought to his chambers while he cleaned himself up, sat over contracts, studying or had an important discussion. Servants that move unseen and unheard. But he does wonder how, when they don´t know of his morning routine, they know when he would wake up and when he would have finished showering... He looks around, up to the ceiling and trying to find a device that could observe him but he is not successful. He´ll ask Sarah about it. He also still needs to ask about the light. He can´t see anything similar to home and neither anything like lightbulbs as they use in the lighthouse.   
He finishes breakfast - he starts to get a liking to those fresh fruits. Already in Amnesty Bay, it always felt light and refreshing - and dressing for the day. The attire is similar to the one he wore in the evening but the color ranges from white to sandlike and the fabric is thinner and lighter. By the time he is done - this time he hears it - it´s knocking at the door. He walks over, opening it and isn´t surprised to see Sarah but rather pleased to see her greeting him with the same kind and honest smile she mostly smiled yesterday with speaking to him yesterday.  
"Good morning to you, my Prince."  
Prince. A title he needs to get used to again. The last time he had been addressed like this is... by now exactly eleven years ago. On the last day, his father was alive. Twelve hours later he was already addressed as 'King'. "Good morning. Does this mean we´re leaving?"  
"We do when you´re ready."  
He simply nods and steps out, closing the door behind him. He follows her down the hallway, recognizing that they take a different path as in the evening. They must head to wherever the ship is waiting they spoke of yesterday. He is curious to see how advanced their underwater technology might be for a people living on dry land and surrounded by more sand than water.  
"Have you slept well?"  
"Yes, I haven´t slept this good in many years when I am honest."  
Another turn and twenty stairs down.  
"Good," she nods. "Must have been hard for you to ever shut down. I imagine your mind was running 24/7 as King. I see it with father."  
They´re walking down another corridor, another turn.  
"There are days when we say our goodnights at his office and in the morning he is still there. Heavy is the head that carries a crown."  
At the end of the hallway, they enter a lift. He can feel with the shift of gravity that it goes down. His hands clasped behind his back, looking to the side and down at her. "You´ve mentioned yesterday your sisters are younger. You haven´t mentioned a brother. Does that mean the burden of the crown will fall onto you one day?"  
As she looks up to him, this time without a kind smile but a crooked one that tells him he is indeed correct and that she does think of the crown as a burden. "Until my father resigns or dies I am free to do as I please. But when I am Queen I am bound to the throne. Queens don´t lurk around in ancient ruins."  
"I can only tell of what Kings are doing and what not. I don´t know what Queens are usually doing," he shrugs his shoulders. "There´s still a high chance to do as you please."  
She chuckles lowly. "You mean lurking around in ruins and picking up Princes?"  
"Maybe."  
"Sounds good. My collection is still not complete."  
"Your collection of Princes?"  
"Yes. Wanna see?"  
There, the smirk is back on her lips. A small smile plays around his own. "You make me curious. Am I now a part of said collection?"  
"Not yet," she winks at him.   
The lift comes to a halt, the door opens and she steps out first. He waits for a second, just looking after her with amusement in his eyes and smile before he starts following her. At the door at the end of the floor, she stops, giving in a code into a panel next to it. He assumes it´s working with the same technique as the lift that brought them down into the city. The door opens with a buzzing sound and it hits him like a wall. The smell of salty sea water. So intense... shortly he was afraid to become dizzy. His senses don´t betray him. Following her further, he can see already from the door the pier and the water. It looks like a huge hall, walls and ceiling seems to be metallic, for the only purpose as to enter and exist via ships, private ships of the royal family for the one that seems to be waiting carries a crest on its side. He remembers it. He saw it a few times years ago as he learned and studied the history of Atlantis, the history of all its Kingdoms. The ship itself... he is completely amazed, fascinated. The shell looks like liquid silver and the whole form is so smooth... No angles, no edges just one smooth round... He only recognizes a few moments later that Sarah is talking with two men. He guesses they are working here and are responsible for keeping the ship in shape and working. He ist just too in awe by the ship. It´s bigger than the one he uses at home for himself, bigger than the simple ones they use to just get from one place to another. It´s big enough to spend hours or maybe days in it. "It´s beautiful," he breathes as Sarah steps closer.   
"Of course it is. It´s our small yacht."  
"Small?" He tears his gaze off the ship.   
"We have a bigger one but we use it rarely. The last time it was used as my parents went on vacation to celebrate their wedding day. But this here is perfect for small travels." She smirks. "It´s bigger on the inside."   
She nods towards the entrance and he follows her. As soon as they entered the hatch is closing and he sees now what she meant. He can stand upright, two people next to each other are fitting in the floor. On the left, he gets a glimpse of the cockpit. To the right, he can see a sitting area with a proper table and chairs. A ladder leads to a level below. When she said they use this one for small travels then he assumes there are sleeping quarters. All was white, perfect for using only a small amount of light even when you´re in the deepest waters. "How long do we need until we´re at Kairo," he asks as he steps after Sarah into the cockpit, watching her taking a seat.  
"One hour. But we are not going directly to Kairo. We head first to one of our ports and then we change to a car. We can´t show up at Kairo, rising from the Nile, in this here."   
He sits down in the second chair, smiling. "Probably not if you wanna stay a secret." He observes her pushing buttons, a soft blue light illuminates the control panel, giving in coordinates.   
"I bet you have seen enough remains of old and lost places underwater but I thought you might like to see Alexandria and the remains of Cleopatra's palace. They discovered some statues a few years ago and brought them to the surface but the main part is still undiscovered. You will see, those people are actually proud of their history and are very careful with things that belonged once to their Pharaohs."  
"How thoughtful, thank you." And he means it honestly. He senses a shift in gravity and pressure, sees the water rising at the windshield as they drift slowly down, deeper and deeper.  
"Is there anything special you´d like to see in Kairo?"  
"Mummies." He throws a glance at her. "I am sorry. I´ve read about them and... I think of it as simply fascinating that they were able to truly preserve those bodies literally for all eternity. So good actually that you can still make out facial features of some, even after three thousand years. Amazing..."  
"Sure," she smiles. "Things you won´t be able to see in Atlantis, right? Then, I say, we get first those pictures for Lady Atlanna and then I´ll show you some mummies. Not everybody's idea of a fun way to spend the day, looking at dead people."  
A small smile starts to grow on his lips, looking at the water in front of them. A sigh leaves his lips. It still doesn´t touch him but the feeling alone to be surrounded by water in a ship... Still considered as a threat it was even a hard fight of negotiations for him to leave Amnesty Bay and come here alone. Before he will swim freely and alone again there will a lot of time pass. It´s devasting. It´s itching him to be this close again...

She kept her word and showed him a part of the sunken city of Alexandria that hasn´t been discovered by the surface dwellers yet. The last part of a boulevard, guarded by statues of sphinxes to the left and right, the entrance to a palace... She told him of Alexander the Great, the famous Cleopatra and the legendary Library of Alexandria. He would have liked to see all from very close, swimming close up and admiring the details.  
All this before she lead the ship to a port only known to the Deserters, a secret base for their people to travel, and they switched from ship to a car. Luckily, in his eyes, the car got air conditioning. It feels strange to be driven in a car. He feels the speed but also the uneven roads. Strange for he is only used to smooth rides with a ship, even on the back of his tylosaurus he moved smooth and easy through the water. Still minutes away he can see the tops of the Pyramids and he wonders how tall they actually are when he stands in front of them and as he does he is truly amazed by their sheer size and that these are the works of surface dwellers without any technology. Every stone is exactly on point, everything is perfectly aligned. He listens to Sarah as she tells him about the ancient people of this place, how advanced they have been in math and astronomy. He listens attentively as she tells him that this place here is a necropolis, that there are two more, Sakkara and Thebes, she will show him one day if he wants to.   
"Here, take this."  
He tears his gaze off the Pyramids and at her, taking the tablet into his hands she reaches him.  
"Hold it like this... yes. This is an app made by historians and archaeologists. Hold it at buildings or places and it shows you on the screen how it looked back then."  
"Interesting... At last something useful those surface dwellers invented." He hears her chuckling while he holds the device at the Pyramids and sees these without being covered in dust, without the stones bearing traces of sand, wind, and rain of thousand and more years. Instead of tourists, he sees dark skinned, black haired people wearing white linen around their waists. Fascinating. Even information about the age, high, the technique of how they build it back then, the workers and everything around it popped up.   
"Can I get your phone, please?"  
He looks at her in confusion.  
"The pictures," she smiles.  
"Oh, yes... Thank you." He is truly thankful that she takes the pictures. He really wouldn´t know what do takes pictures of. He can´t understand that concept why to make pictures of buildings or statues when you don´t make anything with these afterward. Why does she want to have pictures when she can find thousands of those on the internet anyway?  
"Orm?"  
He turns his head at her, holding the tablet at the biggest Pyramid and... "Have you just taken a picture of me?"  
"Don´t worry, I haven´t trapped your soul in it now," Sarah grins, stepping closer again, turning her back at him and taking another picture.  
Through the sunglasses he wears she can´t see him rolling his eyes but nevertheless, he smirks. After he saw the Pyramids from all angles, it was disappointing in his eyes that it is forbidden to climb these, he would have liked to climb these, she took him to the Sphinx. Close by he could see it clearly from the Pyramids and the walk didn´t last longer than 10 minutes.   
She doesn´t know him the slightest, only the stories that were told about the King of Atlantis. But it´s... cute?... to watch him being so intrigued by the Pyramids and Sphinx. The gaze changing from the statue to the tablet and back again, stepping as close as he can and looking at small details no one else would probably recognize, reading whatever informations he is given. Truly a scholar, eager to learn and thirsty for knowledge. It doesn´t change as she takes him into the Egyptian Museum in Kairo. Though he doesn´t make a secret of his aversion towards the city itself. Understandable, she thinks. Too loud, too hectic, with their fine senses she too can smell the fine dust in the air, too many people at once for someone who is probably only used to be surrounded by ten at the maximum when he holds a meeting. Not to mention the heat in the streets and the burning sun. But she enjoys showing him the artifacts, the remains a culture is long gone, the heritage of the people living here. The Pyramids, the Sphinx, the mummies and coffins in the museum, busts, and papyri, enjoys explaining to him. She got to know by now his opinion on the surface world and the act to throw their trash back at them and declaring war speaks for itself. She not only enjoys showing the remains of a past culture to him but also to prove that they were indeed advanced on the surface, that they had and have their good points and also enjoys when he admits a few points to the surface.

"It was truly enough for one single day."  
"I don´t mind to..."  
"I know you don´t," she smirks. "But I don´t want to be accused by the King of Atlantis for blowing his brothers head with thousands of information at once. The brain gets tired at one point. There is still so much to see... let us keep it in mind for another time, alright?" He already asked her about Sakkara, Thebes, Luxor, the Valley of the Kings, the temple of Horus and Hatshepsut, Abu Simbel... but it´s truly way too much for two days. Depending on how long he stays with them there are going to be several opportunities to come back here. "Nothing and no one will keep you from coming back." Maybe it´s the fear of being this simple request denied, with already having been on house arrest at home, that he wants to see all at once. "And you´ll still meet my sister and our mother in the evening. Trust me, you need your strength," she winks. "And you have been out in the sun long enough. I don´t want you to get a heating stroke."  
He draws his head back in confusing as she... simply softly nudges the tip of his nose with her index finger. His thirst for knowledge isn´t satisfied by now but he gives in. It will be probably too much at one point and he won´t be able to appreciate the art and wonder he might see in front of him. And yes, it´s also hot outside and he feels terribly warm. And so many scents and sounds at once, so many people, are exhausting him... He gives in by taking the key card she offers him to his suite in the hotel they are staying for the night, a few rooms away from her family members.  
"Try to relax a bit, I´ll pick you up later."  
"I am honored to meet..." He can´t say it here where no one knows of them and about them, only that they must be terribly rich. "I am honored to meet them," he nods. She smiles at him, nods once and walks down the floor, watching her vanishing through a door just three suites further down.


	9. Chapter 9

"Who is that woman?"  
Atlanna, sitting at the kitchen table, like always with a cup of steaming tea in front of her (she just likes that beverage too much), and admires the photos on her phone her son send from Kairo. A bright sun, the sky clear and in competition with her sons' eyes in the intensity of their blueness. The famous Pyramids of Gizeh, the Sphinx, the museum. Pictures of mummies and their sarcophagus, papyri, vases, small and bigger statues... but she wonders about those - Arthur explained this kind to her earlier - selfies of a woman with Orm in the background, looking at an exhibit or reading. He kept his word and messaged her before she could worry for a whole day. He made the photos he promised her, though she knows not all, probably none at all judged by those selfies, are shot by himself. Seeing him an on those and seeing he is well and obviously, hopefully, enjoying his time there reliefs her.  
As soon as she wondered out loud she has Arthur and Mera - she urged him to bring her with him the next time he visits - looking over her shoulders.  
"Maybe... his guide?"  
"I don´t think he´s the kind of guy giving his personal belongings so willingly into strange hands... or even make friends with 'surface dwellers' this fast."  
"He can be truly charming if he wants to," Mera shrugs her shoulders, earning a glance from Arthur and rolls her eyes at him. "We´ve grown up together..."  
"She has a nice smile," adds Atlanna, smiling herself. She seems to be local, she doesn´t dress like one of those tourists.  
"She is probably just a local he charmed to act as his guardian in the city for free."  
Now it´s Arthurs time to shrug his shoulders. "As long as he stays where he is and behaves... and if you´re so eager to know, ask him."  
His mother Atlanna knows better. She knows that if she would ask him directly he would shut down immediately and she probably never gets to know who the young lady is. But he is in company. It lightens up her heart that he is not all alone over there.  
  
  
True. It´s not the luxury he has in his rooms down in the Palace. And the decoration and style of the suite should obviously please the eyes of the tourists. Too many floral patterns, too many colours, too much of an imitation of gold... But it´s luxurious enough. He has everything to refresh himself, a basket with fresh fruits in the parlour, air conditioning, a huge 'flatscreen', proper furniture - the usual tourist doesn´t seem to like to sit on the floor, especially the rich ones. The look out of the windows is satisfying. In the distance, he can see the Pyramids. In the bedroom waits a rack with a few attires to chose from. A smile grows on his face. Judged by the style and the colours he guesses Sarah chose these. They are almost identical with those he got in the Palace. He doesn´t mind. He likes her taste so far. Well, at least concerning clothes. The food... he can spare the heavily spices dishes.  
He truly wouldn´t have mind if she showed him around a bit more. She told him so much about the temples and the famous Valley of the Kings that he really wants to see these, the sooner the better.  
It was nice to listen to her. To not be urged into a conversation, to only speak when he wants to, not leading the conversation and for once just to listen. And listening to her... he could hear in her voice that she likes to educate about the history of those places, that she is proud of the history these two nations share, counting it as a part of the Deserters heritage. The ancient Egyptians above and the Deserters below. He can´t deny the smiles she elicited from him by seeing sparks in her bright eyes and hearing the passion in her voice as she talked about gods, hieroglyphics and long gone Pharaos. It was... refreshing. Only his mother talked with such passion in her voice and sparks in her eyes when she talked about the world above. But everyone around him in Atlantis... He can´t remember to have witnessed such in those surrounding him.  
He took a shower, wanting to show himself from his best side when he is about to meet the Queen and the other Princesses of the Deserters. The hair strictly combed back and done, as usual, choosing a sharp cut design from the rack in a blue that underlines his eyes. He was told several times during his life so far, by women, that there are some nuances of blue that are matching his eyes so well it makes him hard to resist. The look in the mirror shows him that he got a small tan from spending the day outside in the sun. He is not sure yet if he likes it. The undeniable proof that he was on the surface. Even in Atlantis paleness was a privilege of royalty.  
'Try to relax'. A phrase he also heard a few times in the lighthouse. Relax... he doesn´t know how. How could he relax? Taking a nap, doing nothing, reading novels for entertainment, all is and was a waste of time in his eyes. He reads to gain knowledge. He sleeps because his body needs to rest to restore his energy to function properly as King. There was not a single minute in his life, especially not with the throne, where he could have had the decency to just do nothing. When relaxing means to stop thinking for a few moments, he trained. Yes. Training was his form of relaxing. A few minutes into it and his instincts kicked in, his feet and arms moved automatically, he didn´t need to think what move should come next, his body simply knew. But it´s probably not the ordinary and common way to relax. Training... He sighs. He hadn´t held a trident since his fathers broke. He didn´t fight since his fight with Arthur.  
Training and enhancing his fighting skills had been a part of his life for like... always. He really misses it. The one, maximum two hours daily where he could simply shut down his brain. He never could afford more time for it. There was always a matter that was more urgent. But to train until he was out of breath, until his muscles were sore until the trident became too heavy in his hands... Only then he was satisfied.  
A knocking at the door tears him out of his thoughts. A glance at the clock tells him that it must be time for dinner and it´s probably Sarah picking him up. He looks a last time into the mirror, checking his attire and the goes to open the door.  
"You´re ready?"  
He could get used to the smile she always greets him with. It... feels just honest and really meant. As if she truly likes to see him.  
"When you take me with you like that." He returns her smile, stepping out of the door and is stopped by her putting a hand onto his chest. Looking down onto it she smoothes not existing wrinkles, looking at her again and the honest smile turns into a sly one.  
"I don´t see anything speaking against it." With winking at him she draws her hand back and he steps at her side, grinning, and walking down the hallway to the lift.  
"Blue suits you."  
"So, you proof my inkling right that you choose these for me?"  
"I´m a Princess. You´re a Prince and our guest. What would we be for hosts to let the Prince of Atlantis running around in the same clothes for days? We are excellent hosts and always do our best that no can say different."  
His smirk returns. "You do an excellent job so far."  
"Thank you. And I know that good looking men in fine clothes are getting bonus points from my mother and sisters."  
"Is that so?"  
She thinks of the combination of his with that smirk, the one lifted brow and the blue of his eyes matching so perfectly the blue of the fabric he wears, as very unfair. Not only because she feels personally attacked with a look at him... Okay, only because she feels personally attacked by simply looking at him.  
"You seem to forget, my dear Prince, that you´re about to face three teenage girls," she smirks.  
He is glad that for today's evening she´s not showing a bare back or arms, and neither bare legs or more like he saw on some today in the streets, the museum and the ancient places. It made him slightly nervous, so much he admits. He is not used to women, actually, everyone, showing their skin so casually.  
"Well, I fought the Brine and Trench, I fought the King of Atlantis. I think I can handle them."  
So cocksure, she thinks... She chuckles lowly, shaking her head. "Don´t say later I haven´t warned you."  
"Will you fight at my side in the worse case?"  
"And betraying my sisters? What´s the price?"  
He turned at her, leaning more in. Still with that smirk on his lips. Just as he opens these to reply the lift stops and with a open the doors.  
One last glance and she steps out, going ahead of him.  
For a brief moment, his eyes follow her before he moves and catches up with her.  
Soft carpet muffles their steps as they go down the hallway that leads to the restaurant they´re going to dine at. In front of a closed winged stands a hostess behind a lectern, checking all reservations and the list of guests. Judged by her posture he guesses that no one without a reservation will have a chance to get past her. No matter what.  
"Welcome to the 'Diamond of the Nile'," the lady smiles as they were approaching. "How can I be at your service?"  
"Sarah Smith plus one. I am on the list if I am not mistaken."She hands over her key card from the hotel and lady takes it, doing behind the lectern something with it until she looks up with a bright smile and handing back the card.  
"Of course, Miss Smith, Sir," she nods at them, "It´s a pleasure to be at your service. If you would please follow me? I´ll lead you to your table. You´re already awaited."  
"Smith," he asked in a whisper, leaning closer to her as the hostess opens the door.  
"A wonderful ordinary name for the surface," she winks.  
As they entered the restaurant he got aware of how exclusive it must be and probably not everyone is granted a reservation. It´s not as much as the suits satisfying the fantasy of a foreign culture, but a bit more traditional he guesses, similar to the rooms he saw below in the Palace. Countless tables and almost all are taken. Despite the number of people it´s surprisingly calm. If he is anxious? No. He was meeting royals on a daily basis in... his old life. Regularly other Kings and Queens, Princes and Princesses. There are phrases that work for all, smile, stay polite, compliments always work.  
"Thank you."  
He turns his attention back to Sarah, the hostess leaves them and there they are. The resemblance is striking, it´s undeniable that all five women are closely related to each other. The Queen and obviously the youngest Princes got the same colour of the hair like Sarah, the twins, he is sure for they are truly looking identically to each other, wear a different one. One a bright red, the other a smooth gradient from red to purple to blue. At least he can´t mistake the two young women with each other.  
Sarah first greeted her family, hugs and kisses on the cheeks for everyone, siblings who are happy to see each other again, a mother who dearly loves all her children. Then he is introduced.  
"Mumma, sisters - The young gentleman here is Orm. Orm, this is my mother and these are Nuriel, Aliza and Arsinoe."  
He bows little with a hand on his chest. "Good evening, Milady," he addresses the Queen, "It is an honour to meet you and the young ladies this beautiful lady right here calls her sisters."


End file.
